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Supergirl: Blackstarr
| Creators = Paul Kupperberg; Carmine Infantino; Bob Oksner; Tom Ziuko; Ben Oda; Julius Schwartz | First = Supergirl Vol 2 13 | Last = Supergirl Vol 2 15 | Quotation = You want to hate someone-- That's your problem! But when innocent people suffer for it, their only crime being of a faith you happen to not like-- Then you're looking for trouble! | Speaker = Supergirl | QuoteSource = Supergirl Vol 2 14 | HistoryText = Superman returns to his Fortress to find the place devastated and his cousin Kara trying her new costume. To Supergirl's disappointment, her cousin seems more interested in knowing why the Fortress looks like a warzone than in praising her new outfit. Supergirl explains she fought Reactron and was nearly killed by his radioactive blasts. The Council took advantage or her weakened state to capture and clone her. She managed to escape and flew to the Fortress, looking for a cure, but her six miniature clones hunted her down. She won by exposing them to power-nullifying Gold Kryptonite, but their battle trashed the Fortress and shredded her old costume. Kara feels guilty about the Fortress' state, but Kal is just glad that she's all right and turns down her offer to clean up. Supergirl then shows her clones to him, trapped in a stasis field because she doesn't know what to do with them. Superman agrees that's the best they can do for now and Supergirl flies off. On Chicago, Kara/Linda's tenant, Ida Berkowitz is completely scared and shaken after seeing a swastika scrawled on her door. Linda's friend Joan Raymond tries to calm her down, suggesting it was only some jerk's idea of a joke. But being a Holocaust survivor, Mrs. Berkowitz is terrified, especially because a neo-Nazi group, the Party For Social Reform, has applied for permission from the police to hold a rally in Grant Park. On the offices of the Party, a man named Byron tries to talk the leader out of an action, but she brushes his concerns away. He curses himself for being unable to speak up against her, but their leader's terrifying. In the meantime, Supergirl arrives in Los Angeles to greet her adoptive parents Fred and Edna Danvers, who have just moved there from Midvale after Fred was transferred. Her father is surprised to see her new costume, and Kara explains she dropped by earlier, her mother saw her tattered costume, and brought up several costume designs she doodled. Kara loved one of them so much that using her old outfit's threads she made herself a new costume on the spot. Kara looks to stay at her parents' a couple of days, but she hears a newscaster talking about the wave of anti-semitism sweeping Chicago and Mrs. Berkowitz's harassment. Supergirl gets mad and heads for Chicago immediately. She can't smash them down for their ideas, even if she finds them disgusting, but she can smash them down when they cross the line. And they will. Linda makes her way to her apartment block and finds several tenants frightened and keeping watch, and her landlady a sobbing wreck. The next afternoon, Linda decides to attend the neo-Nazi rally at which the group's leader spouts anti-semitic rethoric. When a riot breaks out, incited by the mock beating of one of the party members who posed as a Jew, Supergirl intervenes. Supergirl orders the woman and her followers to retreat, but the woman refuses. Then she states her name is Blackstarr and opens her robe, revealing cosmic energies swirling underneath. Supergirl is still wondering how it's possible when she's hit by Blackstarr's blasts. Both women battle over the skies of Chicago. Although Supergirl is powerful, Blackstarr somehow commands cosmic energies and hits extremely hard. She alters gravity, produces electromagnetic waves, forms black holes or sends forth barrages of photons at will. Supergirl endures everything the best she can and hits back, declaring she will not let her hurt innocent people. Blackstarr calls her a fool, summons a space warp and teleports herself away. Supergirl knows it'd be a waste of time hunting Blackstarr down right now so she grudgingly descends, changes clothes and reunites with her boyfriend Philip Decker. On Linda Danvers' apartment building, Joan shows Supergirl beating the neo-nazis on the rally to their landlady to try to cheer her up, but Mrs. Berkowitz finds nothing to be cheerful about: she doesn't think they beating the neo-nazis up instead the nazis beating them up will solve nothing. She's sick of violence and only wants to live her old age in peace. Feeling progressively upset and depressed, Mrs. Berkowitz picks up a photo of her family, muttering they took her husband and daughter and they've come for her now. Linda and Philip are walking into the building when they hear Mrs. Berkowitz screaming. Linda and Phil rush into Berkowitz's apartment and find their landlady shocked and frightened. The leader of the neo-nazi group is a dead ringer for her daughter Rachel who was supposedly killed in the camps in 1941. Linda studies the picture and admits Blackstarr looks right like Rachel, but she tries to talk Mrs. Berkowitz out: Blackstarr is too young to be her daughter or even granddaughter, and she's now a monster at any rate. Mrs. Berkowitz states she knows Linda is right, but she needs to know. On the "Party for Social Reform"'s headquarters, two goons are worried about the skirmish before in the park and the police's probable reaction. They're considering to lay low for a while when Blackstarr shows up, commands them to go ahead with the plan and teleports away. Knowing they can't back down now, both men arm themselves. At night,they fire-bomb a synagogue. Linda hears the explosion and right away changes into Supergirl and rushes towards the place. Supergirl gets a rabbi out, but the old man dies by smoke inhalation. Supergirl gets utterly mad and takes to the skies, shouting the name of Blackstarr. Blackstarr shows up, laughing out loud, and Supergirl engages her immediately. Their battle is reported on radio, which reaches Ida's ears. The woman heads to the battle site. As Supergirl dodges barrages of black holes, Blackstarr gloats about her powers. Supergirl replies she doesn't care what her gimmick is, she'll find a way to turn it off after putting her away. Blackstarr says it can't be done: she succeeded in unlocking the Unified Field Theory which Einstein failed to solve. She fully understands how the forces of the universe act and is able to manipulate them. Supergirl manages to get close enough to punch her and keeps at it to not give her a chance to recover. Meanwhile, Mrs. Berkowitz has made it to the place. When she sees Blackstar she exclaims "Rachel!". Blackstarr turns and recognizes her mother whom she believed killed in Auschwitz decades ago. Stunned, she lands and touches her mother's face. For a second, she seems to let her hatred go. Supergirl is shocked but decides to resume her fight with Blackstarr, even though Blackstarr declares the battle is over for now. Both women stop when Mrs. Berkowitz steps in between them, but Supergirl declares whoever she is, Blackstarr is trouble and is coming with her. Blackstarr dares her to try, and Mrs. Berkowitz leaves sobbing because violence is the only language both women seem to know. Blackstarr gets angry with Supergirl, but Kara Zor-El replies she doesn't believe she's Ida's daughter and won't let her bother her. Blackstarr blasts Supergirl away, reveals she's a shape-shifter who looks young because so she desires, and warps away, promising a rematch. Supergirl decides to head off, pondering on tonight's revelations. In the meantime, Ida has made it back to her building. Linda Danvers drops by her apartment and reiterates she can't imagine what her life was like but she wants to understand and help her. Ida mumbles Linda's too young to know what to lose your world is like, and Linda regrets she's unable to tell she's one of the last living Kryptonians and the last survivor of Argo City. Ida's husband Hymie Berkowitz had a tailor shop in Warsaw. They weren't rich but they had each other and their daughter. Then World War II broke out. They tried to stay in their city, but at the end they had to flee. After several months running they were caught by German soldiers in a farm. Her husband tried to protect them but he was gunned down, and Ida and Rachel were sent to the camps where they were separated. Ida tried to find her daughter after the Russians liberated the camp, but the Germans' records listed Rachel Berkowitz as dead, so she left Europe. After telling her story, Ida asks Linda to leave her alone and turns in for the night. Later, Blackstarr teleports in her room. At the morning, Linda goes to Lake Shore University. After class she meets her student advisor, Barry Metzner. As they're talking, Joan barges in his office to warn Linda Mrs. Berkowitz's missing. Linda leaves for searching her landlady, having the horrible feeling her disappearance wasn't voluntary. Somewhere else, Ida asks her daughter why Rachel's brought her to a safe house. Her daughter hasn't said a word since she kidnapped her. Then Blackstarr breaks her silence and reveals she believes her mother let the Nazis take her because she hated her. She was fluent enough in German to understand the guards and know she and other children were going to die. Believing to be abandoned by her mother and needing to be clever to survive, Rachel managed to get into the camp commandant's good graces. The man adopted her, and Rachel spent the next years sheltered from the War and growing up to hate her mother and her mother's people. Anticipating the downfall of the Reich, Rachel's adoptive father got false papers forged. He died during the War, but fourteen-year Rachel fled to America. She went to school and excelled in everything. She studied physics until she figured out how to manipulate the forces of the universe, and she became Blackstarr. Her story over, Rachel doesn't know what to do with Ida: she's but an old woman but she can do her harm. All of sudden a voice states that's because Ida's a reminder of everything good she could have been. Blackstarr turns around to see Supergirl standing in the door. Supergirl reveals Blackstarr's powers cause a disturbance in the electro-magnetic field around her which her super-senses can track down. Supergirl engages Blackstarr, stating how little concerned she's by her death threats. Blackstar teleports Supergirl and herself to the center of the universe, where the maelstrom of cosmic forces threatens ripping Supergirl apart before her enemy does. Blackstarr unleashes her full power, and Supergirl realizes she can't take her on a direct confrontation. So she decides to be sneaky: when Blackstar manipulates gravity around her to reduce Supergirl to atoms, Kara rushes towards her. The overwhelming gravitation field draws two black holes which tear Blackstarr apart. Supergirl flies her way back to Earth, regretting she can't bring any good news to Mrs. Berkowitz, only more grief. Kara shows herself to Ida, and the old woman tries to smile in spite of her pain. Supergirl smiles back and flies off. | Issues = * (Echoes of Times Gone By) * (Star Light, Star Bright... Blackstarr Rises Tonight) * (Starfall) | Items = | Vehicles = | Weapons = | Notes = | Trivia = | RecommendedReading = | Links = }}